The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Principle of Eternal Separation THE TITLE of Paul Blanshard's fine book, God and Man in Washington (Beacon Press, $3.95), gives much too limited an idea of...
...There can be no question of Federal funds being used for support of parochial or private schools...
...4. church censorship: 5. discrimination against Protestants, Jews and unbelievers in mixed marriage...
...The burning question of the day is: "What does Senator John Kennedy think of all of these things...
...Blan-shard reports that America actually has 267 denominations and the number has almost certainly been increased since he made his count...
...Jews and non-religious on the other...
...2. prohibition of contraceptives...
...The most exciting part of all this, of course, is the discussion of Catholics and the Presidency...
...And, incidentally, it will help the puzzled liberal answer his questions about the good-looking Democrat from Massachusetts...
...These policies...
...In any argument, the Catholics have the advantage of unity, but there is a surprising amount of agreement among all of the hundreds of splinter sects...
...Our Constitution was written and our institutions were set up by Protestants and non-religious patriots...
...It is a carefully written and conscientiously thought-out discussion of the relation between religion and government in the United States...
...Among our 175,000,000 people there are about 60,000.000 Protestants and approximately 36,000.000 Catholics...
...Why can't they have schools supported by-tax money...
...The unaffiliated constitute such a large fraction of our population that it seems as if they should attract more attention than they do...
...When you look the whole situation over, you are inclined to think that we are lucky not to be in real trouble...
...Catholic Americans look over the water to other lands where Catholics rule the roost and set the styles...
...3. obligation of the state to support Catholic schools with public funds...
...Blanshard discusses the separation of Church and State as well as the cooperation of Church and State as it concerns the Supreme Court...
...Fortunately, Kennedy has not left us in doubt...
...Right now there are great arguments about birth control and parochial schools, with the Catholics on one side and Protestants...
...Sometimes we get the impression that the country is divided into Catholics and anti-Catholics...
...I strongly recommend it as a fair and unbiased treatment of this whole complex set of problems...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Principle of Eternal Separation THE TITLE of Paul Blanshard's fine book, God and Man in Washington (Beacon Press, $3.95), gives much too limited an idea of its scope...
...The Catholics deserve a good deal of credit for standing up for their case so effectively...
...Congress and the Executive...
...Catholics played little part in giving the country its original character...
...The American Catholic Church is not simply an American institution among American institutions...
...And what about a man in the White House...
...He quotes six teachings of the Catholic Church supposed to be binding upon all the faithful: 1. abolition of divorce...
...As one reads, one is astonished to discover that such a small fraction of our population can cut such a large figure in our public life...
...As nearly complete as a single small volume can be...
...Catholics did not come here in great numbers until the 1840s, but from the start they made up in energy for what they lacked in numbers...
...If, after reading this, the voter comes to the conclusion that Kennedy will stand by his country rather than his church, should the two come into conflict, then he may feel perfectly easy about voting for him...
...From the beginning this has been a Protestant country...
...Now they have reached the point where they seem to be ready to tackle the Supreme Court and the Constitution...
...The way in which the courts have dealt with the efforts of Catholics to secure tax money for their schools, and their struggle against birth control are dealt with in some detail...
...says Blanshard, "are not merely incidental opinions of individual prelates but basic teachings of the church, promulgated in papal encyclicals or canon law and made applicable to all Catholics in the United States and elsewhere...
...It covers our religious history, in all of its political aspects, from the beginning...
...The author deals frankly and at length with the whole problem of whether a Catholic can or should be elected President...
...It is part of a world-wide set-up which has great power in a number of countries in Europe and South America...
...And it would be fine to have something to say about foreign policy...
...What they see naturally arouses, feelings of jealousy and ambition...
...6. creedal segregation of Catholic children in a separate school system, with theological penalties for parents who refuse their bishops' orders to boycott public schools...
...Blanshard quotes his statement, published in Look magazine on March 3. 1959: "Whatever one's religion in his private life may be, for the office-holder nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts—including the First Amendment and strict separation of Church and State...
...The First Amendment to the Constitution is an infinitely wise one...
Vol. 43 • March 1960 • No. 10
